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Mother is the woman who raises you, who is there for you to hold and comfort you when you are sick or hurt.The woman who laughs with you, who cries with you, who loves you, even when you aren’t exactly lovable, for whatever reason.That is what I call a real Mother and God bless them.

Being a mom can often be very challenging. This describes the many challenges of motherhood so well. A mother must be a multi-talented person, it is the hardest job in the world but also the most rewarding. In my opinion the most difficult part of motherhood is not the actual parenting part, but managing the household, making sure everyone’s schedules match, picking up the kids and dropping off kids, cooking, cleaning, washing clothes, shopping groceries and finding time to do something fun together as a family and once in a while trying to squeeze in a little mommy time-off. That is the challenge of motherhood.

Active listening is positive and effective communication skill that can improve communication between parent and child, by bringing clarity and understanding to relationships. It makes child feeling loved and worthy, appreciated, interesting, and respected. Parents expect that their child can trust their love, they want to be there for their child and hope that their child will turn to them for comfort. Good communication is an important parenting skill. With active listening you will let the child know that you are interested and involved and that you will help when needed. Active listening can truly transform how your children talk to you, it can deepen the bond, the trust, the mutual respect and mutual understanding in relationships.

1. Pay Attention: While the other person is speaking, look at the speaker directly, lean forward and maintain eye contact. Minimize all external distractions. Give this your full attention and ask the child to do the same. So turn off the TV or anything else that could disturb your conversation.2. Respond appropriately: While you are listening, you can give both verbal and nonverbal responses such as nodding, smiling, and comment to the child. Encourage the speaker to continue with small verbal comments like yes, and uh huh.3. Focus only on what the speaker is saying: Try not to think about what you are going to say next. The conversation will follow a logical flow after the speaker makes her point. If your own thoughts keep interrupting you, simply let them go and keep your attention on the speaker.4. Keep an open mind. When active listening, the listener resists the temptation to make the assumptionthat they already know what the speaker is trying to say. Wait until the speaker is finished before deciding that you disagree.5. Show Respect and understanding: Unless they specifically ask for advice, assume they just need to talk it out. Do not dominate the conversation.6. Let the Speaker Finish the Point they Were Making: Don’t interrupt even if the speaker is launching a complaint against you, wait until they finish to defend yourself. The speaker will feel as though their point had been made. Allow the speaker to finish each point before asking questions. Do not interrogate the speaker.7. Engage yourself. Children needs to know that you take their views and ideas seriously. Ask questions for clarification, but only when the speaker has finished. After you ask questions to make sure you didn’t misunderstand. Start with: “So you’re saying…”

I’ve been reading articles about how TV can have negative effect on children. According to the U.S. Health and Human Services news release, a study done by a doctoral candidate at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health has shown that too much television before the age of six could lead to possible behavioral problems later in life. According to them most kids like to watch TV and movies or play video games and use the computer. They often find it relaxing or entertaining. But too much time spent in those activities affects kids health and athletic ability. Kids who view violent acts are more likely to show aggressive behavior. If children who spend more than 4 hours per day watching TV, in the first years of life, the more likely to be overweight and less muscular according to a study by the University of Montreal. It will also affect how physically active he will be as an adult. TV watching can leed to obesity not only because it reduces children’s physical activity but also because it subjects them to ads wich are promoting foods with high fat and sugar content.

TV steals time from activities that actually develop the brain, like language, creativity, motor, and social skills. A child learns more efficiently from real interaction – with people and things, rather than things she sees on a video screen. School kids who watch too much TV also tend to work less on their homework. When doing homework with TV on in the background, kids tend to retain less skill and information.

Adults must ensure that their children are watching appropriate programs. Parents needs to monitor the content of TV programs and set viewing limits to ensure that your kids don’t spend too much time parked in front of the TV. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends that kids under 2 years old should not watch any TV and those older than 2 should not watch more than 1 to 2 hours a day of quality programs. TV isn’t all bad. Kids can get help learning on public television, f.ex. about wildlife on nature shows. No doubt about it — TV can be an excellent educator and entertainer – if you choose the quality programs.

Parents needs to realise that the mind of their kids is like clay. It forms early impressions on what it sees, and these early impressions determine how they see the world.

The conclusion is that as kids get older, too much screen time can interfere with activities such as being physically active, reading, doing homework, playing with friends, and spending time with family. Quality, educational programs can be informative for your kids but parents needs to monitor the programs and set time limits.

Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of life’s longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
and though they are with you, yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love, but not your thoughts.
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
for their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward, nor tarries with yesterday.

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English: Healthy eating pyramid similar to that of the Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health. Temporary image as original is non-commercial use only. If you have a better image please replace this. Thanks. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Parents are role models for their children. If they have bad habits it is likely that their children will pick them up as well. That’s why it is important for parents to be aware of their role and think carefully about what kind of role models they are. Are there some habits that needs to be changed so that you will better fill that role? I know that I do. One habit that I want to change are my diet. I want to teach my children how to eat healthy and take care of their health. Their role models needs to show them how to eat healthy and teach them how to make the right choice regarding their diet. It is important to teach children how they can have healthy Relationships With Food. They are not born with the talent to eat healthy, they need to learn it.

Parents should never use food as a reward on good behavior or to comfort the child. It teaches the child to eat if they are feeling bad or when they want’s to reward success. Many grown ups have this problem. They have developed eating and weight problems as they often see food as a reward for their hard work or when they are feeling down.

By making the children aware of the Healthy eating pyramid and talking to them about the variety of food. That some foods are good for your body but others aren’t. Children tend to take things very literally so it’s better to make sure they understand that it is okay to occasionally eat this “bad” food. We don’t want them to feel bad if they are in a party and “need” to eat cake.

By adding vegetables and fruits into your regular diet, you teach your child this habit. By exercising regularly your child is more likely to your child is more likely to choose physical activity.

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Being a parent is the most demanding job in the world – in my opinion. We have to be on call twenty-four seven, always ready to jump out of bed if the child needs us. No matter what. It is the parents duty towards their children to love and protect them, to nurture and care for them.

We are always on call. Sometimes it can get quite frustrating like last night when I woke up with one of the kids calling for me. Of course I hurried to the room, tripping over some toy on the floor. Then as I leaned down to see what’s wrong, I realized that the child was sleep talking – how frustrating.

No sick days allowed for parents. Parenthood is very challenging and can make you do things that you don´t like. Like few days ago when I had a stomach flu. I was home alone with two of my children, age one and three. Even though I was “stuck” on the toilet I still had to entertain them and keep them out of trouble. So I was sitting there with stomach cramps, singing and playing with dolls – everything to keep them happy. They are too young to be by them self in the apartment so I had no choice. When parents become ill they can’t call in sick because they still need to look after the children.

There are great rewards. Although being a parent can have it’s bad days then most days are quite rewarding. The joyfulness of watching those little babies as they develop. Seeing their pride as the can finally achieve something new. Being part of their joys and sorrows. Supporting them to achieve their goals. To guide each child to become an independent, mature and a loving adult.

Being a parent is surely one of the most challenging jobs in the world – but it is also has the best rewards.

Now that the weather are getting colder usually that means that the season for sore throat, cold, coughing and flu are on the way. It is better to be prepared for the upcoming winter.

In my household there are three things that I always make sure that I have in the home as soon as the weather starts getting colder. Those things are ginger, lemon, honey and garlic. Those are the things that gets my family through even the coldest winter days. As soon as anyone in the family starts to show any symptom of cold, sore throat, starts coughing or flu, then I start boiling this home made broth for them.

The kids can drink this because of the honey, which gives it a little bit sweet flavor. If you think it’s taste to strong then add water or put a bit more honey into it. On the other hand if you feel it’s not enough flavor then add to the ingredients. It’s really up to you to find the right flavor that suits your taste.

Recipe for home made broth

0.5 liter water.

1 – 2 inch fresh ginger root – chopped into small bits.

1/2 lemon – squeeze the lemon juice out.

1- 2 teaspoon honey.

(some people like to add one sector garlic)

How to prepare it:

You pour the water in a pot and put the chopped ginger (and one sector of garlic if you like) into the water when it starts boiling. You let it boil for about

three minutes, then you turn off the heat and squeeze half a lemon into it. Add honey to the broth and stir well. Now it is ready to consume.

You can keep it in the refrigerator for two days and just pour it into a cup and re heat it in the microwave.